


Duty

by arochill



Series: Linked Universe Fics [4]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Wild (Linked Universe) Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21639994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arochill/pseuds/arochill
Summary: He wasn’t ready for this.
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe)
Series: Linked Universe Fics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1555819
Comments: 10
Kudos: 378
Collections: The Bard's Roost





	1. unprepared

He wasn’t ready for this. He was prepared, stored full of items and weapons that he would need in order to stay alive in this battle. But he wasn’t ready. It had been a long time coming, a hundred year wait, but it felt like only a few days ago that he had woken up in the Shrine of Resurrection missing all of his memories. He knew it was his duty to do this, he knew that time was running out the longer he delayed heading towards the castle, he knew that he was only prolonging the inevitable with every second he spent not doing his job.

But, and he would never be able to say it aloud, he was scared. Terrified of what he would find when he entered the castle to finally face Ganon once and for all. Terrified of the idea of failing again, of Hyrule being destroyed completely because he wasn’t good enough, of Zelda’s efforts for all these years going to waste because he was useless.

There was no one he could say that to, however. There was no one in the world that could possibly understand the apprehension he felt upon what he needed to do. But the Master Sword hummed on his back, a familiar weight, and he knew there was nothing left for him to do to prepare himself for this. He had no choice. This was something he had to do alone, something that no one else could accomplish but him. It was his duty.

And Ganon was the one thing stopping him from completing it.

He headed to the castle.

Ganon was stronger than anything he ever remembered going against, and that wasn’t surprising. The scars that already littered his body were joined by more and more burns as the fight went on, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about what he was going to look like once his was all over.

He could feel Zelda’s presence in the room from the very beginning, and he could tell she was trying her hardest to hold Ganon back as much as she could as he fought him as hard as he possibly could. He poured his blood, sweat and tears into the fight, and when Ganon revealed his final form he did the same thing again, trying his hardest to end this once and for all.

And he did. With help from Zelda, who bestowed upon him the Bow of Light, he was able to take aim and destroy Ganon. And then there was Zelda, as young and as beautiful and as full of power as she had been since the very day he had met her.

And he watched as Ganon disappeared into nothingness, locked away by Zelda until the day that he broke free. And Link finally was able to breathe a sigh of relief as the weight that had rested on his shoulders for so very long disappeared.

For a moment, for one precious moment, everything was done. His duty was fulfilled. Zelda was free from her 100 year long fight. It was  _ done. _

And then he looked at Zelda, who smiled at him so, so very softly. He stepped forwards, and froze in place.

“Do you really remember me?” She asked him, her blue eyes shining in the sunlight.

And all Link could do was stare, and cry.

“I’m so proud of you, Link. So proud.” She told him, every ounce of feeling showing in her voice. She smiled, but there were tears on her face, too.

“No.” Link said, shaking his head, pleading for this to not be happening, pleading Zelda to stop talking and to stay all in one single word.

“I’m so glad to have known you, Link. I’m sorry that I failed. I’m sorry I can’t stay. I’m so, so very sorry.” She told him, and her body flickered and glowed green and he saw five figures behind her glowing the same colour and wanted to cry out but he couldn’t do it no matter how much he wanted to.

“Zelda, I–”

“You’ll do amazing, Hero of the Wild. I know you will. And thank you. For everything.”

Whatever force was keeping him still stopped, but it was all too slow. He moved forwards, reaching out and pleading out words he could barely hear himself. But there was nothing he could do.

Zelda smiled at him one last time, and then she died.

The scream that Link let loose could have been heard across all of Hyrule.


	2. Loss & Home

They didn’t know. That was something that Wild had to keep reminding himself, day in and day out, every time one of the others spoke of their Zelda. It was nearly too easy for him to lie, to tell them that his loss of memories had drew him further and further away from his own Zelda and that they hadn’t spoken since he has defeated Ganon. It was almost too easy for him to pretend that his Zelda was still in his own world, living out her life with her research, finally free of her burdens and responsibilities and able to do what she wanted with her life.

It was too easy, and every time he lied it felt like his heart was breaking even more than it already had. He wished Zelda was still there, doing all those things that he said she was, being the wonderful person he knew she could be, living her life the way she had always wanted to. But she wasn’t. He was the only one who knew she wasn’t. Because she was dead. She was _gone._ She wasn’t _never coming back._

And for some reason he continued to lie that she was fine. Maybe if he did it for long enough he would believe it too. Maybe if he did it long enough the world would be kind enough to give her back to him.

_He knew it would never happen._

It hurt. It hurt to lie about her. It hurt to hear them talk about their Zelda who was thriving in their worlds. It hurt to know that he truly was the one who failed. He was the proof of the destruction in his world, he was proof of the deaths that he had caused, he was proof that only the evil were the ones to survive in the end, and that the good were the ones whose only fate lay in death.

It hurt.

He was lucky that he had fallen through one of the portals and that the others had never entered his Hyrule. It was the only thing that could keep his lie working. He should have known that his luck would never last.

About four months into joining together a portal appeared in front of them that, when they went through, led to a vast expanse of land that he was intimately familiar with. And he knew it wouldn’t be long before they knew the truth.

They ended up close to where they had left Time’s Hyrule, ending up on the outskirts of what had once been Lon Lon Ranch. For the first half an hour explaining Calamity Ganon and the kind of destruction he had brought upon Wild’s Hyrule has taken up their time, allowing Wild a chance to try and think of explanations or excuses or ways to escape their questions but it was of no use.

He knew it was inevitable.

He knew that, eventually, it would come out.

He found he was even more terrified than he had been when going to face Calamity Ganon. These people around him– they _cared._ He didn’t want to lose them. He didn’t want to see the looks on their faces when they learnt that while he had saved Hyrule from Ganon, it had taken him 100 years and also his Zelda’s life, along with the lives of so many others. He didn’t want to lose the only people he had left that understood him.

But he knew there was no choice. They had to know. They had to be told before they asked, before they spoke to any of the denizens of his Hyrule.

He didn’t realise that the had stopped talking until someone tapped him on the shoulder and he looked around himself at his friends who were all now staring at him concerned.

He could barely remember what they had been talking about, but he decided that this was a better time than any.

“Wild, you alright?” Twilight asked him, and Wild looked around them, and then towards the ground, breathing in deeply.

“I need to tell you all something, before we go anywhere.” He said.

“Okay?”

“Sure, Wild, what is it?”

“Alright, buddy. Go ahead.”

“Take your time.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Wild looked up at his friends.

“None of you will be able to meet my Zelda.” He told them, and swallowed when all of them looked at him with confusion, the fact not dawning on them fully yet.

“…that’s fine, Wild. I know you said she’s busy with all her research–”

Wild didn’t know who said it, but he cut them off them with a shake of his head.

“No.” He said, and he couldn’t hold the tears back anymore, smiling falsely under the pain, “You won’t be able to meet her because she isn’t here anymore. She hasn’t been here, truly, for 100 years. She’s _gone.”_

And he watched as the realisation fell onto all of them collectively. He watched as the horror came onto their faces, as they all looked at him shocked and confused and terrified all at once. But all he could do was the horror. All he could do was prepare for the inevitable blame to be laid onto his shoulders, as he knew it should be. All he could do was wait.

But it never came.

The hand that snapped him out of his thoughts still remained on his shoulder. If anything, it was holding onto him tighter. He looked up and saw Twilight and saw the pain etched into his expression and that was all he saw before he was pulled into a tight hug. Wild froze.

“You’ve been blaming yourself for it, haven’t you?” Twilight whispered, and slowly, Wild nodded against his shoulder. Twilight’s hold grew tighter. “You’ve been scared of how we’d react, huh, cub?”

Wild nodded again.

“I’m sorry.” He cried against the older man's shoulder, unable to hold it in anymore.

Another hand appeared on shoulder, and Wild saw from over Twilight’s shoulder Time, who smiled at him sadly. He could see the others all crowded around Time, tears in their own eyes and any trace of horror gone from their faces replaced by sadness and concern, which Wild was coming to realise was directed at _him._

_They were concerned for him._

“It’s not your fault, kid. We aren’t blaming you for anything. We know you did all you could, and you protected her until you physically couldn’t anymore. It’s not _your_ fault. You didn’t cause it. That blame lay with Ganon, not you. Never you.” Time told him, and then there were more arms around Wild.

And in only a few moments Wild was in the centre of a hug from eight different incarnations of himself who he knew, with a lot of difficulty, might still be his friends.

“I’m sure she’s proud of you.” A voice said into his ear. He wasn’t sure who it was, but it made him cry even more.

He could of sworn he saw a figure over the shoulders of the people around him, blonde hair framing their face and a familiar, bright smile on their face.


End file.
